


Digital Veil

by Faustsama



Series: Digital Veil [1]
Category: Cyberpunk & Cyberpunk 2020 (Roleplaying Games), Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:41:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28027962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faustsama/pseuds/Faustsama
Summary: This is an original piece, using established cities in the Cyberpunk world, but all characters, besides already known characters, are all my creation.Freya Von Lucis, daughter of exec of Biolance, reeks of her own priviledge, as she travels down to Night City to see her favorite band, D00Ms, which riots against the very system she benefits from. How badly she wishes to shed her skin, to be alive in in their world. So she sneaks out of her corpo life for a moment, but one cannot truly dip one's toes into the abyss.
Series: Digital Veil [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052969





	Digital Veil

CHAPTER ONE: underground

Get the feeling that you’re never/ All alone and I remember now/ At the top of my lungs in my arms she dies/ She dies.

Fear of the unknown, fear of the bright neon lights guiding the two young ladies to their D00Ms. The band anyway. They tried their best to wear the garb of the reckless abandoned, lining the streets of Pacifica, some of them yelling, some of them sprawled upon the cold concrete, cybernetic eyes staring up into the stale smog above. This was not the ladies’ norm, they should not even be here. But when does the band ever come to the nicer side of Night City? 

“Well...technically their banned from ever stepping foot in our territory,” thought the taller of the two travellers. She pulled the fishnet stockings down a bit, stumbling to catch up with her best friend. Her parents would absolutely ground her if they ever caught sight of her now, adding a little bit of adrenaline to her steps. Freya Von Lucis, only daughter of the director of finance at Biolance, age twenty-three, in the slums. Usually shaped by fear and the expectations to be a total saint, Freya did not dare go out and actually be her age. She scoffed, fixing her blonde locks into her cheap, two-tone wig she got off Sahara, she was breaking the mold today.

Alongside her, well, way in front of her, the third daughter of the senior accountant, Athena Garroway, hissed for Freya to catch up. She was not as new to sneaking out as Freya, but she still did not feel comfortable on her own. Men with augmented jaws, licking their cold metal lips, pointed at the two girls as they passed, Freya finally catching up to look at her map on her iPhone XX. “We are almost there, ‘thena!” 

“Obvi,” sighed Athena, pointed to the obnoxiously loud crowd, gathering, at what seemed to be, an entrance for a metro. The rail line for Night City had been out for three weeks now, most locals knowing that the city had no plans to make the reopening a priority. Now, it had become the go to spot for grass roots live musical acts, which was deemed illegal not just two days prior. No police dare go up against the gangs of the area though. 

The girls felt uncomfortable in the stagnant air full of smoke, Freya trying her best to breathe through her contraband D00Ms shirt. A group of older bikers in front of them was blasting D00Ms’ song, “Sahara Desert,” many of the crowd shouting in unison, “Sold my soul for one day shipping/All boxed up/A smile on my coffin.” Athena even joined in to Freya’s surprised, funny that her father works for the company. 

They were the very people that this group, that D00Ms, sings about, children of the corpo elite. They did not want for nothing, could even don the clothes of the disparaged for fun. The knowledge of her privilege did not fall short on Freya, the guilt ate at her spine every time she heard the lead singer’s lyrics. She felt hopeless, it made her angry. That’s why she wanted to see them, to see first hand these people’s struggle to have a voice, to listen. 

Freya loved D00Ms from the first time Athena brought the contraband music to her attention. Athena mostly listened to it for the big ‘F.U’ to her father, not caring so much about the social ramifications. But Freya knew every song by heart, broke down every single verse, studied and tried her best to help write, at least, some wrongs that her family and others like her cause to the downtrodden of Night City… to no avail.  
Nobody wanted to get handouts from a prissy looking blonde girl, who never had a real issue in her life, who’s healthcare covers even the slightest cough, while mothers give birth to still born babies, not even 20 miles away in Pacifica. She wanted to meet the lead singer of D00Ms, codename CH1R0N, and just unwrap his mind. Freya was simply in love with him, inspired, and even had hidden drawings underneath her California King. 

The crowd was herded in, Freya noticed the lack of a weapons check inside, as what she is accustomed to in Westbrook. Loud synth filled her ears, engaging neon lights hastingly hung upon the staircase, descending the crowd further into the mouth of the beast. Athena was bopping about, skipping downstairs with some chick, bright pink mohawk nearly taking out Freya’s eye. They reached the bottom and Freya took in the surrounds. Dealers hawking D00Ms merch, others playing Knock ‘Um, Shock ‘Um, a digital chest game played through projectors in the air. Expect the pieces actually attacked one another. It was one of the hundred VR games that no name game designers were pushing out in Night City. Where these people lacked in food, they made up in technology. So many coders, hackers, and designers lived in secret from Corporations, producing their own means to get ahead. 

While the elite were worried about the next console wars, VR has become way more prevalent in the ghetto. 

“Aye, isn’t there one where you can like, totally bone Senator Jackie Moore,” Athena laughed. 

“Pretty sure there is one where you can fist fight your fath- I mean that Garroway punk,” Freya caught herself and Athena punched her leg. 

The girls tried their best to squeeze to the front of the stage, most of the crowd on the train tracks, the shouty stage was on some type of rafter. A huge white tarp was behind a huge drum set up, D00Ms seeming to be written in red paint that dripped a lot like blood. 

“THEY DON’T SPARE ANY EXPENSE,” Athena yelled in Freya’s ear, the poor girl was two inches shorter than the latter, having to stand up on her tippy toes. Freya felt bad, as she had worn some tall boots on top of her almost six foot height. Athena came up to her chest, only because of her ridiculous pumps. 

“I hope you can last in those heels,” Freya shouted back, some men next to them laughing at Athena once they saw her Louboutin shoes. Athena rolled her eyes and blew a kiss at the shady men. 

“DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME, THIS AIN’T MY FIRST RODEO, UNLIKE YOU!”

The lights dimmed shortly after, the roar of the crowd almost deafening Freya. She could feel her heart pumping, her eyes began to water, “I’m finally going to see him.” 

A drum beat, became two, became rapid. Guitars heavily followed suit, the lights started to rise, the crowd started to push and pull, it became hard to breathe, Freya held steadfast to Athena’s hand, as they both tried to keep their head above water. From the brutal drums, seems D00Ms was started with ‘Armaggedon,’ her thoughts confirmed with the low growl coming from CH1R0N, Freya shouted along with him, “Things have come to a head.”

“Where is your god,

The one that promised respite,

He would save the broken?

Their fucking lies,

Forced down with a false sense of comfort.

I see Jerulasem in flames,

Politely covered in ‘progress’”

The mosh pit opened up right next to Athena, Freya having to pull a hard as she could to keep her small friend from being eaten up in the madness. The mohawk chick ran off with one of Athena’s heels.

“I see him coming now,

Raining hellfire upon us,

Giving the undeserving their continuous time in the light.

We feed upon the plagues

THEY STILL GET THE HONEY.”

The pain of the lyrics, made so apparently clear in CH1R0N’s voice, his face completely covered by rags, Freya just noticed all the band’s members had their faces obstructed. Blitz usually is very cocky while he goes off on his solos, it didn’t feel right to her. Athena head banged neck to her, screaming along with the crowd.  
“There is no god above,

We only receive our ticket to below. 

Suffering is our only meal,

Thus begins Armageddon.”

The break down reverbed through her core, it brought tears down her cheeks. It was so completely different listening to his, the people of Pacifica’s suffering live, rather than the cushy comfort of her mansion. How badly she wished she could take the pain away. 

Freya was worn out, she held on to Athena tightly, emotions overflowing through her voice and eyes. She never felt so alive. The band got through two more songs from their first album, Digital Gallow, before CH1R0N took a break to address the crowd.

“HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU FEELING?” 

The crowd yelled in unionison, applause, obsenties, Freya could hear CH1R0N’s chuckle and it warmed her heart. He loved his people and they loved him. “How must it feel to have that kind of power,” she thought. She couldn’t imagine it, never having any grip on her own life, always being told what to do by her father. Having to live life as a saint, not once tasting it’s true joys. 

“I hope y’all are ready for this next one, y’all fuckers better know the words by now!” The crowd roared back in anticipation, she knew they were about to play “Sahara Desert,” Blitz had a nice solo in the beginning. It felt very longing, as the song starts slow like a ballad. Blitz’s brown complexion glistened with his sweat, as his fingers methodically danced over the neck of his Gibson. 

“I-”

The lights shout on, screams coming from the back of the event, closer to the long staircase to get into the station. Red lasers pointed directly at CH1R0N’s chest, mid lyrics, he dropped before the first popped off. Yelling pierced Freya’s ears and the crowd started running toward the tunnels, Freya lost hold of Athena hand, as bigger men started pushing past her, as it seemed the SWAT team closed in. Gunshots started passing by her as she ran, as it seemed people in the crowd wanted to respond to the threat. 

As much as she shouted for Athena, Freya did her best to run with the ones who wanted to escape. She passed by young women tripping, getting stepped on, she even saw older, heavy set Latino with a blood gushing out his right chest from a gunshot.

She never actually experienced a war zone, besides what her younger brother Lloyd does in Call of Duty. Guns sounded nothing like video games, terror filled yells felt like it tore at her skin. Her leather jacket got caught on a pipe as she turned towards the yellow line to City Center. Freya did her best to rip it off, a child and mother knocking her to the floor in the process. She could feel her left ankle twist, as she let out her own scream of pain. She tried her best to crawl closer to the wall, but she felt the great thud as someone’s boot connected with her skull. Taste of pennies filled her mouth, her vision blurring, seeing what like shadows fly past her. 

Freya only wished she could have said at least one word to the singer, before her eyes closed.

**Author's Note:**

> I took inspiration from Death Stranding, Greek Mythology, household name corporations that I have renamed.


End file.
